Rainy Day Stuff - rainfall matters !

A rainy day in Fort William is a good thing - honest! It makes the rivers which in turn create the waterfalls in Glen Nevis where millions of litres of water pour into the Glen and down the river. Nearby, the large pipes on the side of Ben Nevis are filled with fresh water which pours into the Rio Tinto Alcan hydro powerhouse which generates megawatts of electricity for aluminium smelting and selling excess to the grid. Rain cleans the streets in town, and washes away the horse manure on the country roads which in turn provides fertiliser for plants which absorb CO2. Then there are the rainbows in a clearing sky and of course canoeists wouldn't have a sport without the rain. The Caledonian Canal relies on rainfall to fill the reservoirs which fill the locks in dry periods. Let's not forget to tell you about The Ben Nevis Distillery - located at the foot of the Red Burn, and directly "descented" from Ben Nevis rainfall - all ready to be made into whisky.

If you like an occasional rainy day then you could be spoiled for choice here in the west Highlands... it's the mountains you see - they stick up into the sky and cause moist air coming in from the Atlantic Ocean to condense and form clouds - then it rains...

The good news is that one of the best fun things to do on a rainy day is to visit The Lower Falls in Glen Nevis and then walk through the gorge in Glen Nevis to Steall Falls where you will see a seriously impressive waterfall. On the way there, you'll be amazed at the mature Scots Pine trees growing horizontally out of the rocks, the ferns and wild flowers and thousands of streams big and and small. You'll also hear the roar of the River Nevis as gravity forces billions of tons of fresh water to cascade down the river gorge, which over thousands of years have worn the rocks into all sorts of shapes. Check out our page about Glen Nevis Steall Falls for more details.

If you don't particularly like getting a wee bit wet, then Fort William has an interesting choice of diversions for you to consider. We've listed the Fort William & Lochaber visitor centre businesses below from the Lochaber Directory and hope you have an interesting time discovering Fort William on a wet day. You could always have a lazy, relaxing day doing next to nothing - treat yourself to lunch at one of our local restaurants? Buy a newspaper and enjoy a local cask conditioned ale in one of our pubs...